Killing Of Kidnaped Boy Has Japan Soul-searching

TOKYO — The kidnaping and murder of the 5-year-old son of a firefighter has transfixed Japan, stirring outrage and soul-searching in a society

unaccustomed to much violent crime.

``Isn`t our society too money oriented?`` a leading Japanese newspaper asked in an editorial about the case. The Asahi Shimbun newspaper lamented that traditional values of honesty and hard work were being replaced by greed that fosters such kidnapings.

Since the end of World War II, only 155 kidnapings for ransom have been reported in Japan. Of these, young Yoshiaki Ogiwara was the 28th to be killed.

After cooperating with the police in not reporting the kidnaping when it occurred last Monday afternoon, newspapers rushed extra editions out after the boy`s naked body was found in a stream Wednesday.

Television programs covered little other news. The majority of the front pages of the next day`s national newspapers were devoted to ``Yoshi-kun,`` as the boy is widely known. ``Kun`` is a term of endearment often used in Japan for small boys.

Yoshi-kun lived with his parents and grandparents in a house in Takasaki City, 60 miles northwest of Tokyo. He went alone Monday to play at a shrine near his home but had disappeared when his grandmother went after him 10 minutes later.

An hour and a half after Yoshi-kun disappeared, a man called the family, demanding the yen equivalent of $140,000. It is unclear why the kidnaper thought the family would have that much money, because the father, a 43-year-old firefighter, is of modest means.

The kidnaper called the family several more times, and at one point the boy was allowed to speak to family members. In a final call on Wednesday morning, the kidnaper cut his demand to $70,000 but still gave no instructions for payment, saying only that the money should be prepared.

The body was found Wednesday afternoon in a shallow river 40 feet below a bridge. The police said the boy, who had a broken jaw, may have been flung alive from the bridge.

Police have not disclosed whether the boy had other injuries or had been sexually abused. Some 300 police investigators are searching the banks of the river where the boy was found, but so far police say they have few clues. Police say the arrest rate for kidnaping in Japan is 95 percent, and that in none of the previous kidnapings for ransom since World War II has the criminal succeeded in getting the money without being caught.

Nevertheless, major newspapers have devoted long editorials to searching examinations of what it is in the society that permits such brutality to occur.

``Compared to Europe and the United States, Japan is supposed to have better security,`` Japan`s most-read newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, said in an editorial. ``But according to a police white paper, kidnaping for ransom vastly increased last year, to 11 cases from 7 cases in 1985.``

The editorial added, ``We feel that there is indescribable insecurity and fear beneath our superficially safe and peaceful society.``